Boofpen

It's official. Boof Bonser is now a member of the Minnesota Twins bullpen.

This will be Boof's first time ever as a regular member of a bullpen. He has one career relief appearance, his professional debut, for Salem-Keizer back in 2000.

UPDATE: The same article now states that Bonser is back in the rotation, taking the spot of the injured Carlos Silva. No matter what is going on, Boof's next start is crucial to establishing himself as a starting pitcher to remain competitive for a rotation spot in 2008, which is by no means a sure thing.

"There's a lot of Boof"

A close call: Jason Tyner drove Boof Bonser's changeup right back at Bonser on Sunday. Though he was pitching behind a screen, Bonser barely avoided having the seams of the Spalding baseball tattooed on his torso.

In the give-and-take of Spring Training, his teammates who saw it were giving Bonser a heavy dose of teasing. Gardenhire threw in his two cents' worth, as well.

"Boof," he said, "that ball wouldn't have been close to most guys. But there's a lot of Boof behind that screen."

from twins.com

The more Boof, the better. We want him in the majors for a long time.

No word yet on when Bonser will make his 2007 Spring Training debut. The Twins kicked off their pre-season yesterday, and played another game today. Carlos Silva was hit hard (what a suprise) in today's contest.

Will update as situation warrants.

Spring has sprung

The Twins have reported to camp. Games begin in one week. I haven't blogged in awhile since there's nothing new on the Boof front. Still projected as the #2 or #3 (maybe behind Silva). I mean, when your team guarantees Sidney Ponson a rotation spot, you'd think you could let a guy named Boof Bonser have one too...

Bonus: another Boof card pic for y'all.

Another Bit of the Rotation

The Twins signed Ramon Ortiz. That makes the Twins '07 rotation look something like

1. Johan Santana
2. Boof Bonser
3. Carlos Silva
4. Ramon Ortiz
5. ???

And the order is probably wrong. I'm not a Twins fan, I'm a Bonser fan.

Actual Boof news is slow this week. So I'll treat y'all to another card, this one his first mass-produced card, 2001 Bowman Draft Picks.

Finally!

With spring training a mere five weeks away, the marvel of Boof's standing within the Twins organization has begun to sink in. Depending on whose reports you read, Boof will begin the season as either the #2 or #3 starter in the Twins' rotation. This from a pitcher called up in mid-season last year, with sadly mediocre numbers in the minors the past few seasons.

The situation may say more about the Twins' depth than Boof's ability, but Bonser has finally established himself in the majors. If Lohse and Silva hadn't had career-worst years and Liriano hadn't ruined his elbow in '06, Boof was beginning to look like a minor-league lifer.

Instead, he got to start Game 2 of the ALDS (which the Twins lost through no fault of Boof's - 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 K's). Now he gets to start 34 Game 2's in 2007. Boof finally got his break.